Demand for diamonds on the rise

Jun 18, 2014

De Beers, the world’s biggest diamond producer, says it expects global demand for diamonds to rise this year, led by 7 percent in the United States and 18 percent in China. Overall, China, including Hong Kong and Macau, is the world’s second-biggest diamond market and now makes up 13 percent of global diamond demand, and the company expects global demand to rise by 4.5 percent in total, reports South China Morning Post.

“More and more Chinese are achieving the buying power to acquire jewellery and diamonds, especially when they get married,” Mellier said. The explosive growth in China’s diamond market comes at a time when the government is cracking down on blood diamonds.

De Beers also expects “good to very good” second-quarter results in India, which has become “a potentially large source of diamond demand”. The country “has for a long time been a market for gold jewellery, often sold by weight, but for a few years now, diamonds have been making inroads in jewellery, and it works very well”.

He hailed new Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a “fervent defender of an industry which he knows well, the diamond industry”, having been governor of Gujarat state, known for its diamond polishers.